A Year's Time
by Sorde
Summary: A cute little JavaJunkie fic; mostly just Luke and Lorelai banter. Post-series finale. Warning: Mild Chris bashing.


A year, Lorelai decided, was an exceptionally long time. A lot could happen in a year. You could, for example, start dating someone else, elope, let that person find out you're still in love with the first person you started dating, get divorced, try to win back the first man, have your daughter graduate from Yale, have _her _heart broken by the boyfriend wanting to get married, have her get her first official job following the Obama campaign... and, finally, have the man you loved all along throw you and your daughter an extravagant goodbye party in the rain. Hypothetically, of course. If you wanted to see exactly how much could happen in a year, that would be a good example.

"Luke, I'm hungry." That was all she'd said; 'Luke, I'm hungry.' AKA, 'Luke, give me food now or I'll complain about being hungry for the next fifty seconds until you finally get up and make me a burger, some coffee, maybe a couple pancakes, and some Tater Tots.' He knew the routine well; a year hadn't exactly rewired their brains. He stood up, grunting as he went, and headed in to her kitchen.

"Do you want coffee?" he shouted from the kitchen, his voice slightly muffled by the lateness of the hour and how much he'd worked that day.

"That had better be a rhetorical question, or you're losing your touch, mister!" Lorelai giggled, elated. Chris, when they'd been together (the dark months, as many residents of Stars Hollow still referred to it), had rarely chosen to cook. 'Chris, I'm hungry' would have led to Chris spending an hour and a half searching for the best restaurant within fifty miles, bringing her there, telling her to order whatever the hell she wanted, and then spending two hours staring lovingly at her. Sweet, yes, but not exactly her idea of a fun Friday night. It beat dinner at the Gilmore residence, but, as both Luke and Rory knew well, Lorelai was more of a Friday Night Movie Night kind of girl.

"Any chance you'll take decaf?" He stuck his head out of the kitchen, a small smirk playing on the edge of his mouth as he spoke. His baseball cap - the blue one - was falling down a little in the front, and he adjusted it. She stared at him for a moment, until he shrugged and brought his head back towards the coffee pot. "You know what coffee does to you, right?"

"Do you ever let me forget?" she called back playfully. Truth be told, she had missed being reminded not to drink coffee throughout the last year. Chris certainly didn't tell her to slow down; on the contrary, he drank it almost as heftily and eagerly as she did. Luke stepped out of the kitchen briefly and opened up the broom closet door, peering inside suspiciously.

"You have whole wheat flour in the broom closet?!" Luke called out in surprise, pulling himself out of the closet to look at her, his eyebrows raised.

"Oh. Right. See, I was at Doose's on Friday, and I was browsing the aisles when all of a sudden I thought of Rory and how she was on a big trip full of men and their-"

"You know what?" Luke interrupted, shaking his head. "I don't need to know."

"Change! I was going to say change!" She pursed her mouth in a teasing way, pulling back as if she was going to laugh.

"You were not. Admit it." She shrugged in reply.

"Whatever you say, Officer."

"Officer?!"

"Well, if you have a Mountie hat, naturally you're an officer, right?"

"I do not have a Mountie hat!"

"I've seen it. Don't deny it."

"I'm not making you coffee or pancakes any more." This declaration finished, Luke proceeded to leave the kitchen area altogether and plop down on the couch, directly next to Lorelai, who was looking a little... panicked?

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" He shook his head, one corner of his mouth turning up slightly in amusement. She sat up desperately. "Please! I'm coffee deprived! I'm going to die! Oh, look, here I go..." She leaned back, as if she was in a play, one hand thrown dramatically across her forehead. "Oh... Luke... I'm so... weak..." She slowly closed her eyes. "Luke... I... loved... you..." When he didn't react, she stood upright and glared at him. "Until you stopped making my coffee!" That said, she stood up off the couch and stomped in to the kitchen, looking oddly like a four year old.

"It's nice to know that our relationship is purely based on my coffee-making skills." he called. She stuck a head out of the kitchen to glare at him a second time.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Her voice had a mildly teasing tone, and she returned to the kitchen, stomping and huffing as she prepared the coffee. Luke only made it for about six seconds before groaning and standing up.

"I'm here." It's all he needed to say; within seconds, she was out of the kitchen and back on the couch, unbearably comfy. "I hope you're happy!" he called out.

"You always seem to satisfy," she began, a grin spreading across her face. He stepped out in to the living room again, one eyebrow kinked.

"Don't say it..." His tone was surprisingly threatening.

"Dirty."

"Damn it! That one was too easy."

"How easy?"

"Easy enough."

"So I'm easy?"

"Kind of..."

"Dirty!"

"Damn!"

She followed him in to the kitchen this time, standing a little too far away for his taste.

"Come here so I can kiss you," he murmured, all previous animosity disappeared. She stepped closer, just close enough for him to lean forward and press his lips to hers. She took a step forward, placing her hand gently on his cheek. His hand on her back pulled her forward another step, and he then threw that same arm around her shoulders in the fashion he was so well known for. There, in the kitchen, the realization finally hit: a lot could happen in a year. A lot could change. But some things would stay the same... and some things wouldn't change because they were meant to be. This was one of them. Luke and Lorelai. Lorelai and Luke. Destiny. Whatever word you used, it, essentially, came out the same. She placed her hands gently around his back, reveling in the feeling of closeness and love. Speaking of which...

"I love you." Her words were soft, spoken tenderly. He pulls back slightly, not far enough to hurt her feelings but far enough for her to see the small smile playing on his face.

"I love you, too. Always have, always will."


End file.
